Funky Sheep Card

So you probably struggle to keep up with all my nibling's Birthdays... But I can inform you my youngest nephew turned 2 over Christmas, and I wanted to send him a fun, textured card. The background is some amazing green paper I've had in my stash for years - it looks so like grass! The texture is similar to crepe paper, but it's much thicker. The sheep's wool is cut from felt, with card limbs and face. I wanted to add some sparkle to the card so gave the sheep a glittery Birthday hat! This is actually made from some amazing glitter tape I recently bought - I was able to line multiple pieces up so it looks like a single piece. I never knew I needed glitter tape in my life, but it has become an essential.

Butterfly Card

Butterflies are such beautiful, delicate creatures. I wanted to send a friend a card that was butterfly themed to decorate her room, and I thought how cool it would be if it could fold up small and open into a big butterfly! Butterflies can look plain when their wings are folded, but when they are stretched out their beauty and detail really shines.

I drew myself a template, which you might have noticed me share over on the Facebook. I attached some beautiful textured paper from my stash to some sturdy white card, and cut around the template.

I wanted some extra interest to the butterfly, and so decorated it with pearl paints and liquid pearls. This adds some lovely shimmer and picks out some interesting details without making the entire card too busy.

What I love most about this design is it can be cut from a piece of A5 card, and fold up to fit in an A6 envelope. The fold works for giving the card enough structure to stand and it implies the body of the butterfly. There is plenty of room for writing inside without compromising on the butterfly shape, and there is the magic of opening what appears to be a standard card to find a huge butterfly inside!

Wedding Anniversary Card

A simple card for my parents-in-law's wedding anniversary. A pearly gold paper, topped with hammered ivory paper. I added some gold liquid pearl dots for interest. The two hearts are cut using my own template from different shades and textures of red card. A corrugated maroon that I love, and a brighter red with a near-spongey texture. A card doesn't need to be fancy to convey beauty and meaning.

Mixed Media || Dandelion Clocks

Yeh, so I basically winged this piece of art, but I love it!! It is so very unique... If you follow me over on Facebook, you will have seen this come together, I hope you enjoy seeing bits of the process :)

This idea started out when I was creating some abstract paintings, and I wondered how it would look if I applied paint in the same way to aida fabric - turns out, it looks great! I also painted an embroidery hoop, and wrapped some appropriate threads around a section of it, secured with double sided sticky tape - just to add some extra interest and texture.

After securing the aida to the embroidery hoop, I started working into it, freestyle, with a needle and thread. I started with some half cross stitches, using scraps of thread I had left over from other projects. I stitched some zigzags over the top - it's a technique I've used in a kit before, and I really like the effect. I also stitched some dandelion clocks on with some feature beads, before applying felt to the back for support, and tying the top with a ribbon. I think the combination of colours and textures is unique and exciting, I really love it!

"Love" - Mixed Media Artwork

Without this turning into an essay, I began this canvas a couple of years ago when I was very ill. It allowed me to go into my art room for just a few minutes at a time, throw some paint around, and feel like I was creating.

Some days it was paint. Some days it was a scalpel. Some days a permanent marker, or silicone filler. Textured filler, or tissue paper. It has layers of hurt and layers of beauty. Paint added in so many different ways, words and colours that meant something to me over the months and years it took to make. 

I think it's finished now.

Felt Giraffe Card

We recently celebrated my youngest niece's 3rd birthday! I felt like stepping away from typical designs for a 3 year old girl, and create this funky giraffe!

I love the neutral colours, and that it is touchy feely with felt, googly eyes and some stitched details.

I find circular hole punches a great way to add a fun and simple background to a card, without overwhelming the primary design! Here, I used a 1" punch and a 2" punch.

Grandmother's Buttons

If you follow me on Facebook, you may recognise the colour inspiration for this canvas, which I shared last month!

When going through my Nan's button collection recently, I came across these beautiful magenta, lavender and turquoise buttons tied together by a piece of yellow cotton. I love the combination - the button colours coordinate well, and I like the jarring sensation of the tiny amount of yellow!

You can see here I included a tiny amount of yellow, and I think it worked :)

There is also a sparkly shimmer made with pearl dust going across areas of the canvas - one just has to catch it in the right light!

As always, the print is available here, and do contact me if you are interested in owning the original painting, or for more information.

Art: Freedom

 The latest in my abstract painting series! 

I added some gold ink to this one, which gives it a beautiful shimmer :)

Again, prints are available on deviantArt, and this original is also up for sale, so contact me if you are interested :)

Art: The Second

I really adore painting like this. It is freeing, it is therapeutic, and it helps me cope with life.

Again, prints are available on deviantArt, and this original is also up for sale, so contact me if you are interested :)

A Peek Inside My Sketchbook XI

You will find a lot of insight into my current canvasses in these pages... I find it helpful to have my sketchbook open as I paint. To look at techniques I have used previously, and to test new ones. It's also useful for making sure I have the right colour combinations, and just a lot of fun with leftover paint too!

A Peek Inside My Sketchbook VIII

I adore this background! I created it by brushing acrylic paint onto a plastic bag, then printing that paint onto the paper using my heavy weight roller. I built it up in layers, and some of the white paint was also added with my fingers for extra texture.

I created this background using acrylic paint and a sponge roller from my childhood - a lovely quick way to add loads of texture to a page! [If you're trying to get hold of one, they're often marketed for children, and actually come in various designs and sizes!]

Playing with coloured inks, and dabbing them with tissues on a fairly wet background.

If you follow me on Facebook you will already know how I painted this page. If you don't, then I bet you can't guess!! Hint: I used a vegetable.

Yup.

I had a partial head of cauliflower going off in the fridge, and put it to good use in my sketchbook! It crumbled fairly quickly, but it produced such a unique texture.

A piece of wooden dowling and acrylic paints. What I love about this is that each dot it slightly raised, so running your hand over it is super therapeutic!

I had my sketchbook open whilst painting some canvasses the other day. I was using blue paints, and adding brown for depth. I enjoyed using my sketchbook to wipe excess paint from my sponge, and I also experimented with various oddments I had lying around. The little wooden corner pieces from canvsses are great for printing with and making short chunky lines. I also printed with beads, and even rolled them through paint and along the page, before adding final doodles with a bronze gel pen.

Click here to see previous sketchbook posts, and like me on Facebook for sneak peeks and inspiration as they happen!

A Peek Inside My Sketchbook VI

Can you believe I've nearly finished this sketchbook?! I'm amazed haha. It's my Birthday this week though, and I'm very excited to be getting new sketchbooks to fill with lovely colourfulness :)

Campervan stamp available here.

Texture experiments using acrylic paint (some applied straight from the tube), a ridged tool, and string wrapped around a cardboard tube.

More textural and shape experiments, using cardboard tubes, straws and sticks. I also made a stencil using a circular punch and applied texture medium over it.

Printing using homemade cardboard shapes as stamps.

Click here to see previous sketchbook posts, and like me on Facebook for sneak peeks as they happen!

Mini Hugs Canvas

I picked up a packet of these mini 7cm x 7cm canvasses a long time ago now, just waiting for an opportunity to come along for their use! They make for a lovely quick project, and I really enjoyed making this!

I created the background using a sponge and acrylic paints. I added the pattern by sponging over some of the netting that fruits come in - I have always loved this effect!

I actually used a silver marker for the writing, as it was the easiest way when working on such a small canvas! Perfect for a little space on your wall :)

Tried and Tested Tip Number 6 [Fur Effect with Wool]

I don't know about you, but sometimes I come to crochet something, and I want it to look furry. Of course, one option for this is mohair type wool, but this can be a bit fiddly to work with... So here's a solution to use the wool you already have, and still get a great fur effect, which you can control!

Here you can see a sample of the wool I was using, just simply crocheted. (For reference, I've used one strand of 4 ply pale brown wool, and one strand of 4 ply dark brown wool, as it was the colour scheme I needed, but you can use whatever you want! One strand, four strands... Red, purple, blue... Anything!)

And here's the finished effect when it's all brushed out. A brush for use on pet hair may be good for this, but I use a very fine sturdy plastic comb.

You can really tease the wool out. Rough it up at different angles, or sleek it in specific directions. You can see in the above Chewbacca that the pale wool has brushed out more than the dark wool - this is because it was a "fluffier" wool to start with.

This was a very different wool - highly textured anyway.

And with a brushing it became super fluffy! Different wools will give different effects, so there are lots of opportunities for experimenting!

Great for crochet and knitting projects :) If you have a go I'd love to see!

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And make sure you come back tomorrow for a little giveaway to mark 100 posts!!